Somehow,
the way people are rejoicing the change in governance in the recently held
assembly elections and the way they are celebrating the ‘humiliation’ of
Congress in these states reminds me of Duryodhana’s dying words to Bheema,
Krishna and Arjuna. While he lies down in pain and agony with Bheema rejoicing
on having defeated him, Duryodhana thus replies ‘All through my life, I have
enjoyed countless riches, splurged my belongings willfully, enjoyed the company
of any woman I wanted and did whatever I felt like. I have defeated and watched
the downfall of many of my foes. I have sent you and your brothers to exile
whilst I enjoyed your riches and possessions. Why should I feel remorse for
dying now O Bheema? I lived my life befitting a Kshatriya, and I die the way a
Kshatriya should. I have no regrets whatsoever because I know I will be going
to heaven’. True to his words, Duryodhana and all his brothers did go to heaven
and were waiting for the Pandavas when finally their time came or so the story
goes. Congress now, and any political party on the losing side will have the
same arguments as Duryodhana and they are not wrong in arguing so.
The mood
after every election whether it be general or assembly is one of triumph of
good over evil, the hope that the change that happened is welcome and for good
and the feeling that ‘things will change for the better from now on’. The masses
very conveniently tend to forget that elections are a 5 year process that has
been happening in our country since independence. Now I ask the reader some
questions. Has the change in government in any way contributed to the safety of
women in our country in the past? Has it contributed to the reduction of cast
oppression so rampant in Northern states? Has communalism or the victimization of
minorities being reduced? Has the conviction rates of the corrupt, the rapists,
the murderers increased in any manner? Other than the flamboyant media reports
that surface from time to time on the various news that seems to ‘break’ day in
and day out on various scams, has it resulted in any concrete measures to
tackle the source of the problems? The biggest question of all does it really
matter which political party wins or loses if change does not happen at the
grass root level?
They
say elections are the only time when the pompous and the poor are equal in the
country, as both their votes have the same value. Quite dramatic and fantasizing
to think, if you ask me. Utopia is created within a day. But come tomorrow, the
pompous continue to be more pompous and the poor becomes poorer than yesterday.
Elections are by far the longest ongoing prime time drama this country has
seen. The trp ratings and viewership only increases as the time goes. It is a
welcome distraction for the masses who supposedly lead ‘mundane’ lives and
believe that they have contributed to the welfare of the country by voting the government
out of power and installing a new set. This is their idea of contribution
towards nation building. Once the hangover is done, they go back to bribing
officials to get things done faster in government offices, mistreat their wives
and daughters and blame them for all the ill in the family, drink and gamble a
majority of their income, curse the minority for spoiling the harmony in the
country and barter their daughters off for the ‘best deal’ a groom can offer. The
clock has been reset when the masses shall again begin to blame the government
for the ‘state of the nation’. Given time the ‘helpless common man’ will point
their fingers to those in power for their sorry state. This wheel has been
turning since independence and it will keep turning until and unless the ‘common
man’ starts taking some responsibility for the ‘current state of the nation’
they lament about so much. The greatest cover up in the history of this country
has been to portray the ‘common man’ as helpless and to portray the government
as the only source of respite and the sole group responsible for the betterment
of the masses.
What
the ‘common man’ has to realise is that in such a huge country like India with
the second largest, soon to be the largest, population in the world, although
the government would love to play the role of policy maker, implementer and the
overseer, it is logistically impossible to do so. Ultimately the Government is
confined to the role of a policy maker and a service facilitator. Believe it or
not, India has all the right policies, in paper, to achieve whatever the ‘common
man’ wishes his country to achieve. As long as the ‘common man’ refuses to take
the responsibility for the plight of the nation this never ending spiral of
blame game will continue.
The
first step is always the hardest. The first generation of ‘common men’ who
takes a stand will always be martyrs. For every single person who decides to
take a stand against the current scenario in the country, a hundred will stand
against him/her resisting the change. Change whether good or bad is scary for
most people. We are afraid of the unknown. We fear anything we are not
comfortable with. We fear everything which we do not understand. This fear
forces us to stay in our comfort zone, to believe that the society around us is
correct, the herd mentality must be respected and the epitome of social status
is to conform to the norms of the society. As a result we train the future
generation to think in a way the present society thinks, we frown on same sex,
inter cast, inter religious marriages, we stamp down any innovative idea the
young kids might have, dismissing them as a ‘lack of maturity’ and train them
to believe that the key to a happy life is to have a government job or a
software job after studying engineering (irrespective of your branch), then go
to America for MBA or MS and then get married to a girl. Any other stream of
education, be it arts or science is lower in stature and does not command the
same respect as an engineer or doctor does. Your social standing and status is determined
by how much you are aligned with this set norm. Unfortunately, the social
media, the advertisements and the surrounding environment as a whole is filled
with so much idiosyncrasies, that it becomes very difficult to figure out things
for yourself. To give you a small example, the beauty products industry
survives only because the men and women have this inherent feeling that a
fairer complexion is better than being dark skinned. Just imagine the kind of
impact that will happen if tomorrow all the young girls and boys decided that
they look good as they are, and that they don’t need a fairness cream to feel
confident, which by the way is actually true.
Change
is inevitable. The manner of change can be controlled to an extent. Personally
I believe the biggest vote a person can cast, is to vote for change in his/her
personal life. Voting is a decision. Start by voting for a career that gives
you personal gratification. Vote for donating to an orphanage or sponsoring the
education of a child rather than offering to Gods. Vote for quality over
quantity. Above all vote for your happiness rather than the happiness of the
herd. Because when you are sad, the herd will not share your grief. They will
choose to see what makes them happy.
